Man gets 20 years after violating DUI manslaughter probation
By Jim Dooley
Advertiser Staff Writer
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A man on probation for killing a close friend in a 2003 car accident here now must serve 20 years in prison after he was caught driving drunk last year on the Mainland.
Andra L. Kimp, 28, pleaded no contest in 2006 to manslaughter. The case involved heavy drinking and high-speed racing and ended in a crash on the H-1 Freeway that killed Scott Ricks, a passenger in Kimp's car.
Kimp, then a Schofield Barracks soldier, was originally sentenced by Circuit Judge Richard Pollack to one year in prison and 10 years probation.
Last year, Kimp was convicted of another drunken driving offense in Chesapeake, Va., and was extradited back to Hawaii after serving a one-year jail sentence for the Virginia crime.
Deputy Prosecutor Kory Young this morning told Pollack that Kimp had violated the terms of his Hawaii probation by driving a car — his license was revoked for three years in 2006 — and by using alcohol.
Pollack threw the book at Kimp.
"You have not responded favorably" to probation, Pollack told the defendant.
Noting police reports from Virginia that indicated Kimp's blood alcohol level was almost four times the legal limit, Pollack said Kimp put himself and others at risk by his behavior and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
Defense attorney Edward Harada asked Pollack to recognize Kimp's "very young age, his service to his country and his efforts to address his substance abuse problem."
Harada asked for a prison term of two years. Kimp has been working more than 60 hours a week at two jobs in Virginia and had been trouble-free before the 2007 drunk driving case, Harada said.
But prosecutor Young said Kimp had "wasted" his earlier opportunity at rehabilitation "by essentially getting wasted, getting drunk and driving again."
Kimp "has shown that his actions will not stop," Young said.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.